The Stairs- Dangers and Attractions

We have a standard straight up and down wooden stairs in our home. It has about 12 steps and is the main attraction for our dogs to jog up and down all the time. Bobby steps gingerly up and down them, Belle zooms like it's an amusement park ride. It makes me nervous and we vigilantly watch them, but have always been afraid that there would be a fall. Well, this morning Belle slipped down the last four steps, as I gasped and watched in a desparate slow motion! She got up right away and paced around in a circle once, looking a little sheepish. I checked her, rubbed her, gave her a hug. Later this evening she whimpered as she was moving from one lying down position to another. I am now worried that she bumped or hurt something, but otherwise she seems alright.

Has anyone else had these experiences with their cavaliers and stairs? Is there something to put on their paws to keep them from slipping and is it advisable to keep their nails trimmed regularly? I know Belle is due for a groom next week, so her nails are a wee bit long... anyway, I feel like putting up baby gates, anyone use those?

We live in a ranch but have stairs going down to the basement with no door. I use a baby gate at the top of the stairs mainly so that Riley won't go down. She has SM and has imbalance issue and I worry that she would fall all the way down, even if I were right there with her. If I am going down and she wants to come down, I carry her and then carry her up. The stairs are carpeted, so the others can go up and down by them selves if I am with them, but I do keep the baby gate up at all times.

I'd be inclined to restrict their access to the stairs, especially as they aren't carpeted as slips are likely to happen again. There is something called paw wax that's meant to help with grip, but I've never tried it myself.

If Belle still seems in pain tomorrow I'd get her to the vet for a check up.

Paw wax will give them more traction. http://www.jbpet.com/paw-wax,1708.html

Do you shave the bottoms of their feet also? There are also things you can put on the stairs to give traction, however you may not be too happy with how your stairs look with stuff all over them :\

Hope she is ok and it is just a sore little spot!

I saw a review for these traction socks for dogs and I thought good for ella or dogs with sm that legs slip on floors. However they are for floor protection and to help with slipping. I will get the name but did search and keep seeing power paws.
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Poor Belle! I'm sure she'll be okay, but I know how scary that feeling is. Helio used to love running up the stairs a few months ago, especially because there's so much trouble to get into up there, but he stopped all of a sudden, scared to even get near them -- we joked that it was because our older dog told him not to! :lol: When we went on vacation though, my dad walked him up the stairs with his leash on and ever since then, he's loved them again. He's absolutely petrified to go down though. Even if I sit with him and hold his waist as he gets used to it, he won't even put his paws on the stair, he just FREAKS out and the other day, dug his claws into me so he wouldn't fall. I don't know how to stop them from slipping though, we have old wooden stairs too and I get nervous sometimes!

We had a slip on those little pet stairs....

We bought some so that Gracie could look out our kitchen window at her "kingdom" cavtiny. But then had to add some "sides" to them as they really are not wide enough and she fell off and scared herself two times. They are not high since they just have 3 steps but not taking chances. I can see that uncarpeted steps would be an issue. Gracie slides on our wood floors even when we have just trimmed her paw fur!

Thanks guys! Belle seems fine now, she might have just had a bump or something or I was overly worrying. Anyway, I have examined both Belle's and Bob's paws, and their fur is quite overgrown, I haven't even noticed it in a long while! They're booked for a grooming this week so. Meanwhile we're enforcing a no stairs policy with the dogeens. When going upstairs to bed at night, they take 'Poochie Airlines' via my husbands and my arms.

Hope she is fine, maybe just bruised herself a bit.
We have carpet on our stairs but they are really steep, my Barney sort of drops down onto each step and his tail looks like a helicopter blade going round as he is going down.

Chamberlain was scared of the strairs unitl he was five months old, than all of a sudden he was zooming up and down them. Sasha hates the stairs and has fallen a couple of times. She now takes the stairs like an old lady! lol

poor pug pup

Really, stairs can be very dangerous. Years ago my son's pug puppy 8 mo. old, was so excited when he heard him coming home, that he raced up the carpeted stairs and somehow broke his foreleg. He was repaired with pins and screws to the tune of $2,000. Happily he recovered with only a small hitch in his get-a-long. I would seriously consider a nice baby gate if your pup is zooming up and down slippery wooden stairs.

sanddollar said:

Really, stairs can be very dangerous. Years ago my son's pug puppy 8 mo. old, was so excited when he heard him coming home, that he raced up the carpeted stairs and somehow broke his foreleg. He was repaired with pins and screws to the tune of $2,000. Happily he recovered with only a small hitch in his get-a-long. I would seriously consider a nice baby gate if your pup is zooming up and down slippery wooden stairs.

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Oh dear! My husband and I have been debating about a baby gate, we had a friend trip over one and he fell down the stairs and broke his leg- yet he was in the bad habit of legging it over the gate instead of opening it.

We have taught the dogs not to go up and down the stairs without an 'ok'. Yet, Belle, the daredevil, will sneak up if she gets the chance- and boy is she quick!!! We carry them up at night for bedtime and down in the mornings. I find it very stressful, the whole stair thing, I had a few bad falls from the stairs as a kid, and I think it's some deeply embedded fear in me!

Clancy was 1 1/2 years old when we moved from a one story rancher to a 2 story colonial with uncarpeted wood stairs. After watching him slip a few times (going up of all things), I purchased carpet treads. They don't permanently afix to the wood but have an adhesive backing material that goes under them.

Paddy doesn't really play on the stairs, although when he's got something he shouldn't have, the first place he goes is the top of the stairs lol.

He fell down them once, from near the top but he was fine, I was crying before I even got to the bottom to check him but he got up and didn't even bat an eyelid! They are carpeted but they're very steep.

He charges up and down them though, especially when he sees his Daddy coming in the gate.

My mums dog Maddie, (who is staying with us for a while) struggles up the stairs, she's a lot heavier than Paddy and has CM and also knee problems so we try to restrict her using the stairs too much.

Desrae said:

Oh dear! My husband and I have been debating about a baby gate, we had a friend trip over one and he fell down the stairs and broke his leg- yet he was in the bad habit of legging it over the gate instead of opening it.

We have taught the dogs not to go up and down the stairs without an 'ok'. Yet, Belle, the daredevil, will sneak up if she gets the chance- and boy is she quick!!! We carry them up at night for bedtime and down in the mornings. I find it very stressful, the whole stair thing, I had a few bad falls from the stairs as a kid, and I think it's some deeply embedded fear in me!

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Hi Desrae, How awful about your friend going over the gate and breaking his leg! My son has baby gates that open like a door and are much easier to navigate. He bought them at Babies 'R Us in Oregon, USA (It's A Long Way To Tipperary!!) It sounds like you take very very good care of your cavies, I'm sure they just love you and pretty green Ireland.

I'm sorry to hear about Belle's mishap thank goodness she is ok now.

Wooden stairs have always worried me very easy for them to slip and can be dangerous

I would be tempted to go for baby gates there are quite a few around that are indeed like a door and you do not have a step over bar - and vaulting a gate is maybe not the best idea :shock:


There is a treatment you can get to treat the floor - will look it up for you. Paw wax does help stop the dog from slipping and obviously keeping the paw fur and nails trimmed.